Sam Houston State vs Lamar College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/11/21

The Lamar Cardinals and the Sam Houston State Bearkats meet Thursday in college basketball action from Merrell Center. 

Coming into this Southland Tournament matchup, Lamar sits at 9-17 overall. The Cardinals are coming off a tournament win over Houston Baptist on Wednesday. As for the Bearkats, they’re 19-8 this year. Sam Houston is 2-1 in their last three and coming off a loss to Stephen F. Austin. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Lamar hasn’t had a lot of luck in the win column this year, and they sat at 4-17 as recently as February 22. The Cardinals have picked it up since then, notching five straight wins including the Wednesday tournament victory.
In the Wednesday tournament win over Houston Baptist, Lamar jumped out to a 35-21 lead at the half and were able to hang on in an eventual 62-52 result. Leading the way was Davion Buster with 18 points, two rebounds and one assist.
Over on the Sam Houston State side, their year started out rocky at 3-5, but things started rolling after that. The Bearkats won 14 of their next 15 games to move to 17-6. Since then it’s been a 2-2 stretch with losses to Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin. 

In the 64-59 loss to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Sam Houston State’s Bryce Monroe put up 24 points with three rebounds and one assist. Demarkus Lampley chipped in 11 points, and Javion May had a team-high 10 rebounds with one point in 24 minutes. 

The Bearkats are 4-1 ATS in their last five Thursday games and 4-0 ATS in their last four after a straight-up loss. Sam Houston State is 14-5 ATS in their last 19 overall and the over is 5-1 in their last six neutral-site games. 

Meanwhile, the Cardinals are 5-0 ATS in their last five after an ATS win and 6-0 ATS in their last six overall. The over is 3-0-1 in Lamar’s last four Thursday games and 4-1 in their last five overall. 

PICK: I’m going to lean toward Sam Houston State in this one. The Bearkats have put up some pretty consistent scoring numbers for most of the season, and they’ve got 72 or more points in seven of their last eight outings. I expect this one to be a fairly high-scoring affair as well, with Sam Houston State controlling the tempo and ultimately banging out a cover.